Figure 1.-- Here we see Dr. Edward Bliss Foot's four children. His son Edward Bliss Foote, Jr. would carry on his father's free speech work. The CDV portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the mid-1860s. The children look to be about 1-9 years old. You can see that long pants were still standard for boys, even boys from prosperous families. Notice that only the very young pre-school boy seated is weaing knee pants.

Dr. Edward Bliss Foote (1829 – 1906) was a notable American doctor, author, and advocate for birth control at a time it was widely seen a terrible crime. The religious community genberally saw any form of birth control as a moral violation. Dr. Foote published the controversial, but successful book, Medical Common Sense (1864). His book included a frank discussion of sexual health as a public health issue. He also published Plain Home Talk (1880). He was eventually convicted under the Comstock Act and forced to remove information about birth control from his book. The Comstock Law was passed by Congress during the Grant Administration (1873). It was reinforced by many state laws and municipal codes. The Act was designed to suppress the trade in, and circulation of, obscene literature and articles of immoral use. Contraception devices and books discussing cointraception methods was included as one of the items for imoral use. Dr. Foote sold 750,000 books. This and related activities made Dr. Foote a very rich man. He went on to co-found the Free Speech League (1902). It was disbanded during World War I, but laid the Foundation for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Here we see Dr. Foot's four children. His son Edward Bliss Foote, Jr. would carry on his father's free speech work. The CDV portrait is undated, but looks to have been taken in the mid-1860s. The children look to be about 1-9 years old. You can see that long pants were still standard for boys, even boys from prosperous families. Notice that only the very young pre-school boy seated is weaing knee pants.

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Created: 10:10 PM 3/30/2020
Last edited: 10:10 PM 3/30/2020





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